Food

The holidays are almost here and, when it’s time to spread some holiday cheer to family and friends, there’s often nothing more appreciated than a gift of spirits. Happily, the variety of spirits available for gifting is enormous, limited only by imagination, taste and, in truth, pocketbook. While some bottles of wine sell for hundred …

ELLSWORTH — Brookside Restaurant may be a little out of the way, but it’s worth it, and not just for the food. Patrons of the student-run dining establishment at Hancock County Technical Center on the Boggy Brook Road not only get an affordable lunch (one recent lunch special — an 8-ounce sirloin served with roasted …

My Meyer lemon tree is in full regalia, with star-shaped white blossoms filling the house with a sweet, heady fragrance. Since moving my plant inside for the winter, the five lemons on the tree have turned from pale green to quite yellow and ripe — a good time to harvest. The Meyer lemon is a …

BLUE HILL — You’ve got to appreciate a café that serves coffee with beans the owners have roasted themselves. Sandy and Bill Fletcher, owners of Sandy’s Café in Blue Hill, were inspired to open their homey dining establishment by their shared love of coffee. “Our original idea was to be a small mom-and-pop coffee shop …

Boiled cider pie is sometimes called Shaker cider pie. Shakers in New England and the Midwest certainly made cider pies and added boiled cider to the applesauce that they canned and sold commercially. However, this recipe came not from Shakers but from a Unitarian church group in Waterville, which published “Delectable Recipes, Tried and True” …

Summer may be the sweet season, as strawberries, melons and peaches appear in a delicious progression of ripeness. But the sweet tastes of winter are treasured too. After the first frosts, something magical happens to the vegetables that remain in the garden. It’s quite different from the sugar buildup in summer fruits, designed to entice …

I love winter squash; moist, rich and hearty, packed with vitamins, fiber and antioxidants. Native to the Americas for over 7,000 years, winter squashes and pumpkins were an unknown vegetable to the early European explorers, who mistook them for a variety of melon. Fortunately for us, squashes were adapted readily by the first New England …

ELLSWORTH — “Going to ‘the Turtle?’” You hear that line among locals looking to grab a bite to eat and a beer or drink with co-workers, neighbors or friends at the Tan Turtle Tavern in Northeast Harbor. That repeated phrase might just catch on in the Hancock County seat, where year-round residents late last week …

ELLSWORTH — When it comes to describing his plant-based lifestyle, Marc Blanchette tends to speak in sound bites. “If it was grown on a plant, have at it. If it was made in a manufacturing plant, don’t eat it.” “You can’t out-exercise a bad diet.” “If it has a mother or a face, don’t eat …